THE VISIT
Directed by M Night Shyamalan
Screenplay by M Night Shyamalan
Starring: Kathryn Hahn; Olivia Dejonge, Ed Oxenbold; Deanna Dunagun, and Peter McRobbie
A single mother sends her children to Pennsylvania to visit their grandparents. Then things go ....strange.
This is an early review. The film comes out September 11th. Thank you to Universal Studios for supplying me with a pass to see a screening of The Visit!!
This film does not work without fantastic performances:
Dunagun and McRobbie as the confused and odd grandparents. Fantastically strange.
Olivia DeJonge and Ed Oxenbold as the brother and sister who come for their first visit to meet their grandparents. They are a brother and sister who get along real well, which is rare in cinema, directors and screenwriters always seem to want brothers and sisters to clash. This was refreshing. In fact the film is seen through DeJonge's camera lens. She sees herself as a future director. She uses this visit to record and narrate and do interviews trying to find out more about her family history (of course families always have secrets). I found this reason to always be filming to be believable. Also, they are good kids, even though their grandparents are acting real odd, they still show respect to them and try to be patient.
M.Night's best picture in years!! The trailer is deceiving. The trailer comes across as a horror film, it is more of a mystery suspense film (I fear people will think it is a horror film and feel they have seen this before and not go). What works here, as noted before, the acting, and the slow build of suspense in this isolated house. This film is also layered with a lot of humor which has not been seen in many of his past films (He lightened up a bit), highlighted by Oxenbold's character, he is hilarious.
Here comes the caps...YES AS ALWAYS IN HIS FILMS THERE IS A TWIST!!!!! AND IN THIS ONE....IT IS HUUUUUUUUUUGE!!! IT COMES ABOUT AN HOUR IN...AND I WAS IN THE THEATRE AND MY HANDS WENT IN THE AIR AND COVERED MY MOUTH AND SAID OH CRAP OVER AND OVER AGAIN!!! IT MADE THE WHOLE THEATER GO NUTS!!! IT WAS AWESOME!!!
Now the film rolls along nicely until that twist. Then these kids start doing stupid things that drive you nuts. Like even doing nothing. At that point the film dropped a couple notches.
4 out of 5 stars for this fun...odd film. Yes there are some holes in the plot but you can see past them. DO NOT READ OTHER REVIEWS BECAUSE THEY MAY HAVE SPOILERS!! Plus, like I always say..critics are sheep and beating up M Night is a common thing to do. Do not read those critics...this film is scary fun At 93 minutes it is a nice surprise and does not overstay it's welcome. It is interesting that M.Night used his own money to produce this and took 2 weeks to edit the film by himself. He was not going to let anybody else get their hands on it.
I saved this note for after the review. It involves the actress Kathryn Hahn.
There are working actresses out there who pop into a film. They do small roles and disappear (Joan Cusack comes to mind). Rarely are they in the lead but in the shadows. Hahn is popping up more and more and she continues to show she is a great actress and, like in this film, her character resonates with us long after the film is over. Lately she is breaking away from her comedic side and she has been doing dramas like The D Train; This Is Where I Leave You; Afternoon Delight and the TV Show Girls. I wanted to just throw out my appreciation for Kathryn Hahn. Love Her!! I hope you do to.
From the shadows as always thanks for your time.
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